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noting this evidential feature, especially as Paul himself has been at pains to call our
attention to it.
"THE SALUTATION OF ME PAUL WITH MINE OWN HAND"
ROMANS.
"The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen." Repeated in
verse 24 (16: 20, 24).
I CORINTHIANS.
"The salutation of me Paul with mine own hand . . . . . the grace of our
Lord Jesus Christ be with you." (16: 21-23).
II CORINTHIANS.
"The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the
communion of the Holy ghost, be with you all. Amen." (13: 14).
GALATIANS.
"Brethren, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.
Amen." (6: 18).
EPHESIANS.
"Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity.
Amen." (6: 24).
PHILIPPIANS.
"The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen." (4: 23).
COLOSSIANS.
"The salutation by the hand of me Paul. Remember my bonds. Grace
be with you. Amen" (4: 18).
I THESSALONIANS.
"The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen." (5: 28).
II THESSALONIANS.
"I Paul add the greeting with my own hand, which is the credential in
every letter of mine. This is my hand writing. May the grace of
our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all." (3: 17, 18, Weymouth).
I TIMOTHY.
"Grace be with thee. Amen" (6: 21).
II TIMOTHY.
"The Lord Jesus Christ be with thy spirit. Grace be with you. Amen."
(iv 22).
TITUS.
"Grace be with you all. Amen." (3: 15).
PHILEMON.
"The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen." (25).
HEBREWS.
"Grace be with you all. Amen." (13: 25).
Here is a consistent witness, made even more definite by observing the concluding
words of the epistles of Peter, James, John and Jude. In this list the epistle to the
Hebrews finds a place, and while we do not limit the evidence to the Pauline authorship
to this one feature, an unbiased reader cannot but feel that unless some evidence to the
contrary is forthcoming, the epistle to the Hebrews is as clearly by the Apostle Paul, as
any one of his accepted epistles. If the word egrapsa be taken as the epistolary aorist,
then the actual words written with large letters will be the postscript, Gal. 6: 11-18. If,
however, egrapsa refers to what has already been written, then the Apostle must be
supposed to have departed from his usual custom and to have written the whole epistle
with his own hand. The aorist usually refers either (1) to a former letter (I Cor. 5: 9) or
(2) to an epistle now concluded (Rom. 15: 15), or (3) to a foregoing portion of the
epistle (I Cor. 9: 15).
"With this partially conflicting evidence it seems impossible to decide positively
whether St. Paul wrote the whole or only the concluding portion" (Ellicott).
Our own conclusion, which coincides with that of Lightfoot, Conybeare and Howson,
and The Companion Bible, is that the `large letters' written with Paul's own hand refer to
the postscript only. Conybeare and Howson print as a note the following illustrative
incident: